Like other people country-wide who paid tribute to the late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ANC Women’s League in the Vhembe region, also did the same.

Hundreds of women from all corners of the Vhembe region, led by the executive mayor, Cllr Florence Radzilani, who is also the Chairperson of ANC Women’s League, gathered at the district council chamber in Thohoyandou in honour of Madikizela-Mandela.

It was an all-day session of prayer, lightning of candles and listening to the Word of God.

Radzilani described Madikizela-Mandela as a fearless woman who was not afraid to be confronted and intimidated by white policemen and women during the apartheid area.

“As women in the Vhembe region, when we mourn the death of Mama Mandela, we must also think of bringing unity in the African National Congress (ANC). We cannot build our ANC if we are divided, and I urge you all to work in one voice,” said Radzilani.

During the event, Cllr Kutala Maholwane told the women that Madikizela-Mandela was a stalwart of the ANC and has made a political history for herself that this country can never forget.

According to Maholwana, the apartheid government did all the evils to discourage her from active politics in so much that they even feared for her life. “She even said that they think that, because they have put her husband on an island, that he will be forgotten. They are wrong, the harder they tried to silence him the louder she became,” said Maholwane.